WCR This Week

Pro-life walkers found hope in unexpected places

August 27, 2012

DEBORAH GYAPONG
CANADIAN CATHOLIC NEWS

OTTAWA – Twelve Crossroads walkers who hiked through Canada for the past three months wearing t-shirts saying "Pro Life" ended their trek in Ottawa Aug. 11, convinced the public opinion is turning against abortion.

"We have such a great country," said Patrick Wilson, 21, the leader of the Canadian Crossroads group. "We had a lot of positive support. I think the tide's turning."

"There was so much encouragement in the most unexpected places," said Lindsay Richey, 20, of Armstrong, B.C. "People that we expected would be angry or aggressive ended up being pro-life."

INSPIRATION

Richey said at one point a man driving his car past them on the highway turned around to tell them "how proud he was to see people of his generation standing up for pro-life."

"It inspired him and made him happy," she said.

In Winnipeg, a man driving a souped-up sports car, pulled up near them at a stoplight and asked Wilson what the group was doing. "Why are you pro-life and not pro-choice?" he asked.

But then the man stunned him by saying, "I'm adopted and if it wasn't for people like you I wouldn't be here today."

OPPOSITION, APATHY

Wilson said these hopeful signs would happen just when the walkers were feeling a little discouraged and wondering if they were doing any good.

The opposition they encountered included "a lot of middle fingers flashed at us, long glances and people yelling at us to go home," but what Wilson said bothered him the most was apathy.

Wilson found apathy disconcerting. "I'd almost prefer people take a stand, stand for something instead of living in la la land, with no sense of morality, and have no reaction at all."